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Sanzo stumbled against the brick wall behind him, blindly searching his robes for his gun. Homura took a step forward, only to be stopped by the hostile glare radiating from the monk's violet eyes.
"Stay the hell away from me," Sanzo growled. He gripped the gun in his hands as tightly as he could, although his palms were more than slightly sweaty and his brains seemed to have been invaded by a thousand Gokus, all screaming in unison for pork buns.
"Are you sure that's what you want?" Homura replied. His tone was quiet, but his hands had balled themselves into a pair of shaking fists. Through the hazy mist that was threatening to envelope Sanzo's mind, the monk barely noticed that the heretic god didn't look as composed as he usually was. In fact, his lips were twitching almost imperceptibly and his hair was slightly tousled. And his eyes... why did they hold such a strange expression? What was he intending to do? And where was the rest of his party anyway?
"What the hell are you talking about?" Sanzo was finding it harder and harder to stand, much less talk. His legs threatened to give way, and his grip on his pistol was loosening slowly. He was so busy trying to make his feet stay where they were that he didn't notice movement in front of him-
"What the fu-" Sanzo let out a snarl, then a pained grunt escaped his lips as Homura slammed straight into him. Sanzo's back collided with the rough, uneven wall, his arms pinned to either side of him by an unearthly force. His mind whirling, Sanzo barely made out Homura's lean, lanky form pinning his figure against Sanzo's, causing them both to slide down to a sitting position against the wall.
The last thing Sanzo saw before a hurricane ripped across the inner walls of his mind was a mad glint lighting up Homura's eyes, a sinister smirk etched on his face. He bent down next to Sanzo, his breath tickling the monk's ear. Then, as if from far away, Sanzo barely caught the god's whisper.
"How do you feel about being at the bottom... Sanzo?"
"All I'm saying is that Homura shouldn't be out loose in that state, when he's crazed and... monk-lusting."
"He's not monk-lusting, he's Sanzo-lusting!"
"Will you please get back to the subject at hand?!" Zenon snapped. He was now sitting on the windowsill, considering that it was about the only area of the room that hadn't been damaged. We need a maid. A highly efficient one. Maybe that purple-haired chick that's always following Kougaiji's butt all the time-
"Hey, Zenon, look what I found!" Shien's excited voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He lifted up a pair of horribly luminous neon yellow boxers that had chibi pictures of a suspiciously familiar-looking long-haired brunnete in a white lab coat. "I found it behind a chair," Shien went on excitedly. "Whose do you think it is? I mean, who would want Tenpou?
Zenon was too dumbfounded to respond for a minute. His face turning extremely red, he snatched the boxers away from Shien. "These- these-" he sputtered. "These- are m-" he caught himself in time. "Somebody else probably left it here. Now let's get back to Homura!"
Shien looked slightly put down, but nodded reluctantly.
"First things first, we know that when that beam hit Homura's head, it triggered some sort of effect. He's technically lost his mind and for some reason, he's thinking only of Sanzo. And he's gone to find him. So we need to find him, bring him back, and then..." Zenon's voice trailed off. And then what?
"Have you heard of the reverse effect?" Shien said calmly.
"Huh?"
"Reversing a particular effect on a person by repeating the act that propelled them to their induced state in the first place."
"..."
"Do you follow?"
"...no."
"We have to boink him on the head again!" Shien translated, rolling his eyes.
Zenon's expression cleared considerably. "Ah." Then he stared at Shien. "You know that won't be easy. How will you pull it off?"
"We'll figure it out on the way. We need to find Homura first." Shien stood up and promptly vanished from the room.
Zenon looked at the spot where Shien had been rather grumpily. "Tenpou's not that dorky," he muttered to no one in particular before following Shien.
At the same time, another party was searching for its missing leader in the streets of a nameless town. This had been largely unsuccessful so far, mainly because Goku and Gojyo insisted on arguing about each and every turn they should (or should not, as was the case) take. So far, they had actually managed to search one street.
Hakkai sighed. Even the naturally good-natured, tolerant man was beginning to feel irritated. Those two, he decided, were unmanageble without the fear of a trigger-happy monk to keep them in line. He trailed behind the loudly arguing duo, wondering where on earth Sanzo had disappeared to and whether they would kill each other if given enough quality time together without Sanzo's supervision.
Lost in thought, Hakkai didn't notice Hakuryu's squeaks until the dragon craned its neck to stare Hakkai in the face and started breathing smoke with an ominous glint to its ruby eyes. That got his attention. He immediately stopped in his tracks.
"What is it, Hakuryu?" he asked. The little dragon responded with a squeak and gestured 'behind you' with a little toss of its head.
"Sanzo?" asked Hakkai hopefully. It wasn't the not-at-all-holy monk, however, but a certain purple-haired she-demon. She was walking down the road, peering into doorways and behind crates and carts with a rather distracted air. Hakkai brightened instantly.
"Miss Yaone!" he called. Not only did he catch the she-demon's attention, but his companions actually stopped their bickering and came over to look.
"Oh, it's you, Hakkai-san," said Yaone. "Have you seen Lilin? It's very important."
"I'm afraid not, Miss Yaone," replied Hakkai. He always took pains to be extra polite with her. He struggled to stop his ever-present smile from turning into the bashful grin of a schoolboy attempting to strike up a conversation with his crush.
"The little brat ran off again, eh?" asked Gojyo. "So what else is new?"
Yaone paused, unsure how much to tell them. After all, the pill Lilin stole was the result of one of those little top-secret experiments that Mistress Gyokumen Kousho habitually ordered. Yaone had no love for the fox demon but she was the current leader, and Lilin's mother. Even Kougaiji, who actively resented her, deferred to the demon queen. "Actually, she took something-"
There was an embarrassed-sounding clearing of throats behind the foursome. They turned to find Zenon and Shien.
"You want to fight, right?" asked Goku eagerly, summoning his staff into his hands.
"Um, actually, no," said Shien rather sheepishly. The four demons looked at each other. None of them could remember ever seeing a god act embarrased. "Have you seen Homura?"
"Wouldn't you be the ones to know?" asked Goku curiously.
"Not today." The two gods were becoming more and more uncomfortable. "Um, well, you see-"
"Out with it already," said Gojyo impatiently. "We're in a hurry."
The two gods looked at each other. "This is bad," muttered Shien.
"Homura's gone bonkers," said Zenon. "He got hit on the head and now..." he trailed off uneasily, "...he seems to be Sanzo-lusting," finished Shien for him.
There was a very uncomfortable silence as the four demons absorbed this. Goku and Yaone went pale red. Hakuryu let out a sound that was rather like a high-pitched snicker.
"We think he's gone after Sanzo," said Zenon. "So..."
"We don't know where Sanzo is either," said Hakkai worriedly. "He ran out of the inn half an hour ago... he looked and acted completely inebriated, but Sanzo's never that drunk.
"Then you should look for them, quickly," said Yaone with some concern. "The both of them out there in that condition... who knows what may happen?"
There was another pause in which all present considered the possibilities. Gojyo shuddered violently. Being a pervert with a healthy imagination can have its downsides.
Zenon seemed to notice the she-demon for the first time. "Let me guess," he said, pointing a finger at her. "Dr. Ni hypnotized Kougaiji while running his... 'tests' and your prince is running around spreading messages of love and peace. In a tutu."
Goku stifled a fit of giggles. Yaone looked indigant. "Nothing of the sort!" she snapped.
Zenon shrugged. "Well, with all the madness going around today, I wouldn't be surprised."
"Actually, Lilin ran away again," Hakkai told the two gods.
"What did she take?" asked Goku.
"What?" Yaone asked back.
"You said she took something. What was it?"
"Um... she... something valuable. Yeah. Just something valuable." Yaone looked nervous.
Zenon shifted his gun meaningly. "And just what was that valuabe object, young lady?"
Yaone took a look at Zenon's face and decided it would be wise to tell them. "She stole a pill. Some sort of drug Dr. Ni created," she clarified.
"What does it do, Yaone?" asked Zenon slowly in an almost threatening tone.
Yaone shot a look at his gun and replied, "I think it's a hallucinogenic. If you took it, you will feel like you're drunk and having a hangover at the same time. And then you'll start seeing things. Parades of pink elephants, shadowy monsters, things like that."
"You seem to know a lot about it," noted Hakkai.
"Dr. Huang slipped it into our food once to test it," said Yaone darkly. "Mistress Gyokumen Kousho loved the effect."
"Like having a hangover and being drunk at the same time..." mused Goku. "I wonder what that would be like... like... Sanzo!" he exclaimed suddenly. "Remember? Sanzo was acting sort of like that!"
"Hey, yeah," said Gojyo slowly. "But we didn't see the kid..."
"Yaone! Did you chase Lilin anywhere near the inn?" asked Hakkai urgently, gripping the she-demon's shoulders.
"Over it, actually," she replied. Her eyes widened. "Oh, no..."
"Oh, yes," said Shien dryly. "Looks like Sanzo's been drugged."
"Well, now we really have to find Sanzo!" said Goku earnestly.
"And an unstable Homura with a througly drugged Sanzo... we have to get Homura back to normal. Quickly," said Shien. "If we have to drop an elephant on his head to do it."
"Well, how about this?" asked Yaone. "All of you can cooperate to look for Homura and Sanzo. I will find you the antidote... if you also help me find Lilin."
"Well... I suppose that's the best course of action," conceded Zenon. "Truce?" he asked, holding out hand.
"We don't have much choice. Truce," said Gojyo, shaking it.
"And no stealing each others' Sutras," said Hakkai quickly.
"No stealing each others' Sutras," agreed Zenon.
"What about you, Miss Yaone?" asked Hakkai.
"I agree too," said Yaone. "Truce. Until all this is over, I suppose."
The six nodded at each other and split up, Sanzo's party and the gods going to search the town, and Yaone to Houtou Castle.